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Friday

Feb 22, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 22, 2008 at 10:19 PM

Friday, Feb. 22, 2008

Staff reports

Herkimer village board seeks solution to broken street lights

HERKIMER — Even though village officials have reported broken street lights to National Grid, the company has yet to make any long-lasting repairs or give credits for the lights not working according to Herkimer officials.

Trustee Tina Cirelli informed the Herkimer Village Board of Trustees on Tuesday of her frustrations with trying to get various street lights around the village repaired.

Cirelli first reported lights not working on Dec. 6 and some of the lights were fixed, temporarily, only to stop working again a week or two later. When talking to representatives with National Grid, she has been told there was a wiring problem with some of the lights, but she wondered why the village wasn’t notified of the problem earlier if that were the case.

Police Chief Joseph Malone said his department also reports broken street lights every Monday to the company.

Trustee Gary Hartman said the city of Little Falls is also having a similar problem, in that broken street lights are not being repaired.

“We’re paying for lights that aren’t working,” said Hartman, who added the villlage should contact the city and find out what its plan is.

Greece mall to ban kids without adults

GREECE – Soon minors without a parent won't be able to visit The Mall at Greece Ridge on Friday and Saturday nights.

The ban, to go into effect within 30 days, comes on the heels of recent fights at the mall involving minors. The policy came out of a meeting between town Supervisor John Auberger and Wilmorite's chief operating officer James Wilmot. Wilmorite operates the mall.

"Keeping our mall safe is critically important," Auberger said. "We will not tolerate the behavior we have seen at the mall over the past few weeks. We have monitored this situation with the Wilmorite company and we both agreed it is time to develop and implement this policy."

Earlier this month, Regal Cinemas started a parental policy for the movie theater at the request of the town and Wilmorite. A fight at the theater in January left three people injured. That policy prohibited kids under the age of 17 from entering the theater without a parent after 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

This new policy includes the entire mall area.

"We are committed to dealing with the issues that have occurred at the mall over the last few weeks," said Wilmot. "We want people to enjoy their shopping experience and feel these steps will assure our shoppers that The Mall at Greece Ridge remains a family friendly place to shop."

Salt building getting an overhaul

FORT PLAIN – The area’s major rock salt distributor will undergo renovations starting Friday when at least four large cranes will disassemble the unstable structure presently there, according to owner Vince Logan.

“The whole structure, roof and trusses, will be rebuilt,” he said Wednesday. “The shape it’s currently in is that the structure is weak from deterioration of the roof.”

Built in 2001, the building, which stands 72 feet high, houses up to 110,000 tons of rock salt at full capacity, he said. At 150 feet wide and 555 feet long, the replacement building will cost a pretty penny, he said, but the figures are not being disclosed at this time.

The salt facility’s roof caved in last year under the weight of heavy snow from the Valentine’s Day storm that dumped in excess of three feet on Central New York in the immediate area. “It was no happy Valentine’s Day for us,” Logan said. “The whole center section just caved in under the snow load. Approximately 210 feet of the roof came down.”

According to Logan, Capitol District Salt has the largest indoor salt facility in the United States. Established in 1994, it has locations in Albany, which is an outdoor stockpile covered by tarp, and the Fort Plain location. They get their salt from mines in Lansing.

The building will be replaced with the same structure, only the inside, where currently the trusses are bare, will no longer be exposed. Instead, a second lining just like the outer part of the roof will cover the trusses.

Capitol District Salt is also the location for sister company, Longhorn Trucking. They supply salt to municipalities in Fulton, Montgomery, Hamilton and Schoharie counties, as well as parts of Herkimer County, including Little Falls and Dolgeville.

Monroe County Executive named Woman of the Year

ROCHESTER – In her early years, County Executive Maggie Brooks got involved with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters. She began attending dinners, helping with fundraisers and being the rock some of the veterans needed. Brooks has continued to stay involved.

During times of war, and even after troops come home, sometimes they need extra support.

“You want someone by your side that's strong. She is strong,” said Richard Gross, commander of the local VFW posts.

Brooks has helped homeless soldiers find their way to help, Gross said. That's why he and other members of the VFW wanted to honor Brooks with the organization's first-ever “Woman of the Year” award.

Brooks was honored in a ceremony on Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Monroe County Office Building. Brooks said the award exemplifies the very spirit of public service.

“It is an award that is very meaningful to me,” she said.

There are many reasons why Brooks chose to volunteer there, but most importantly, she has always been impressed with its members.

“This is an organization that has very very committed members,” she said. “Not only have they contributed through their military and war time services, (they have) gone on to be community leaders and good citizens.”

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